my BOOKS
Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice
As a mother and a professor of environmental education, Mallory McDuff wanted to give her two daughters and her students a roadmap to engage in climate justice in their communities. She set out to find women of diverse ages, backgrounds, and vocations--one from each of the fifty US states--as inspiration for a new kind of leadership focused on the heart of the climate crisis. Love Your Mother lifts up the stories of women who are poets, physicians, climate scientists, students, farmers, writers, documentary filmmakers, and more. Their work lights the way for conversation and collective action in our homes and in the world. It's time we follow their lead.
What people are saying
“Wrap yourself in this book like a lovingly made quilt. In bringing together these stories, Love Your Mother offers a blend of climate leadership inspiration, celebration, guidance, and wisdom. It shows how many beautiful, powerful ways there are to do this work, and in doing so it issues a warm invitation: join us.”
-Katharine Wilkinson, Co-editor, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
“Love Your Mother is a beautiful ode to Mother Earth and a call to action for climate justice from diverse voices—a must-read!”
-Leah Thomas, Author, The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet
Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love
Our Last Best Act equips readers to face end-of-life planning with climate and community in mind. After the sudden deaths of her parents, Mallory McDuff confronted her own mortality in a world threatened by the climate crisis. As a mother and teacher, she began to research sustainable practices around death and dying, determined to honor her parents’ commitment to caring for the earth. What started as a personal journey expanded into a yearlong exploration of green burials, aquamation, conservation cemeteries, death doulas, home funerals, and human composting. Our Last Best Act explores the choices we make--and how our death can honor our values and create a legacy for the world.
What people are saying
"Our Last Best Act is a living testament to a conscious life because it does not shun death, but embraces it. Every household should have this essential book in their library as a reference point and a point of revelation, pragmatic and visionary at once. Mallory McDuff shows us that to die well is a kin to living well. We do have agency in how we wish to return our body lovingly back to Earth with the least amount of harm.”
--Terry Tempest Williams, author, Erosion -- Essays of Undoing
“Heartbreakingly honest and beautifully written, this is so much more than a fascinating manual on how to plan for death. It’s a loving invitation to courageously face a great and sacred responsibility. Mallory McDuff is a gentle and down-to-earth guide who will earn your trust by the end of page one. I highly recommend this astonishing and important book.”
--Janisse Ray, author, Wild Spectacle: Finding Wholeness in a World Beyond Humans
Sacred Acts: How Churches Are Working to Protect Earth’s Climate
Sacred Acts shares the stories and strategies of people of faith working to define a new movement, where honoring creation means protecting the planet. This anthology celebrates diverse actions taken by faith communities to address global warming through stewardship, spirituality, advocacy, and justice. It shows how churches can play a critical role in confronting climate change--perhaps the greatest moral imperative of our time. This book gathers leading voices such as environmental justice advocate Peggy Shepard, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, and faith-based organizers LeeAnne Beres and Jessie Dye of Earth Ministry. The stories shared include the power of energy efficiency, green jobs, natural burial, disaster response, immigration reform, resilient agriculture, and more.
Natural Saints: How People Of Faith Are Working To Save God’s Earth
Natural Saints documents a pilgrimage across the country to collect stories of environmental actions grounded in faith. With two daughters in tow, Mallory McDuff visited more than 50 faith communities integrating the environment into their ministries, such as feeding the hungry, responding to natural disasters, and promoting justice. At All People’s Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the sanctuary became a free farmer’s market with produce grown by youth in the church. In Western North Carolina, parishioners at La Capilla de Santa Maria weatherized their building to decrease the utility bills that took up a fifth of the annual budget. During her travels, McDuff saw the power of her own upbringing in the Episcopal faith in a family that gave up trash and even driving for the forty days of Lent. Congregations and individuals seeking to integrate care of creation into their faith community will find inspiration and concrete advice in the lives of these natural saints.
Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques
Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques presents theories and practice relevant to conservation scientists, resource managers, students, citizen activists, and environmental educators who want to develop education and outreach programs. The book explores more than 60 specific techniques for using social media, designing on-site programs, enhancing school resources, changing conservation behaviors, creating community partnerships and more. Case studies from around the world illustrate the strategies for planning, implementing, and evaluating conservation education programs.